Machinima /
Team Neighborhood

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Have you ever wondered what the colorful cast of Team Fortress 2 do when they aren't blowing each other up over pits of gravel?

Team Neighborhood, an episodic Machinima created by Greatdictator and Batman1138, features the RED and BLU teams (and assorted characters from other games) living directly across each other in a suburban neighborhood.

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Each episode revolves around them performing some relatively mundane activity (like hosting a barbecue or trying to watch a TV show), but since this is a World of Ham, these activities are taken to their logical extremes, and Hilarity Ensues. Meanwhile, a mysterious third party has taken an interest in the teams' off-work exploits.

Animation Bump: The series is done in Garry's Mod by default, but when a scene calls for more fluid animation (like the moving backgrounds of the driving sequences in Episode 4) it switches to Source Filmmaker.

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Bait-and-Switch: Early in Bush Beaters, when the RED Scout is visiting a gas station bathroom, he catches some graffiti on the wall that declared the reader would be "consensually pummeled in da butt" at a certain time. Unfortunately, now was that time; Roadhog lumbers into the restroom and slams open the occupied stall's door... But upon noticing the frightened Scout, the brute meekly apologizes for scaring him and walks away. Just as Scout takes a breath of relief, Frank the Shark rushes in.

Berserk Button: In The Grill, the RED Pyro is not happy when the titular grill roasts their clothing.

Black Comedy Rape: The scene where Frank the Shark rapes the RED Scout in a bathroom stall is played for comedy, and the documentary Sniper watches outside makes specific mention of Frank's penis size and it being mating season.

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Bland-Name Product: Shows up occasionally, but most obviously in Cable Calamity, where the main conflict is BLU's inability to watch Game Of Bones due to their internet being destroyed, and them trying to steal RED's cable TV so they can watch it directly on HOBO.

The Grill ends with the eponymous grill defeated, but the Administrator has to pay for the damages and likely punished the RED team for it.

Cable Calamity ends with the BLU team members successfully stealing the RED team's cable... but they can't directly control what airs because they left the TV remote in RED's house. Thus, when Game of Bones comes on, the channel suddenly changes to Oi! Fuck You!Friendship is Magic when a sleeping RED Demoman rolls over the remote.

Bottomless Magazines: Played with in The Grill. Most of the time, the RED team just keeps shooting the grill without pause, but the Heavy's minigun does run out of ammo at one point, and the Sniper is seen loading bullets into his rifle.

Brick Joke: In Pool Fools, right as the assembled and Übercharged BLU team is about to assault the RED Sentry Guns, a giant Soviet submarine arrives to offer the BLU Heavy a chance to fight for the motherland again. (he accepts to escape the heat wave). Then just as the BLU team teleports into the RED backyard and is about to kill the RED team, the BLU Heavy sabotages a rocket in flight, causing it to crash on the pool and destroy it. He returns in Bush Beaters, where he arrived back in the Neighbourhood in the back seat of a Lada, dressed in winter clothes, and carrying suitcases.

The moose that briefly appears in Pool Fools returns in Bush Beaters. He and his fellow woodland creatures confront CJ and his team in a brief gang war.

Call-Back: The earlier episodes are occasionally referenced in later ones.

Before BLU's internet gets destroyed in Cable Calamity, the BLU Pyro is browsing gardening supplies. In the previous episode, while the RED team was fighting their grill, the BLU pyro was quietly gardening in BLU's front yard.

In Pool Fools, when the RED Engineer declares his intent to build a pool, the RED Sniper imagines the pool attacking the team like first episode's titular grill had. He quickly discourages his friend's plan. In the climax of that same episode, the BLU team bypasses RED's sentry guns by using the teleporter they used to steal RED's cable back in Cable Calamity.

Bush Beaters opens with the BLU Spy giving the RED Sniper the chloroform cloth during the events of Cable Calamity. After a Time Skip, the rest of the episode takes place the day after Pool Fools, complete with BLU Engie being wheeled way with his lower half still stuck in concrete, and BLU Heavy returning from his adventures fighting Nazis and stopping a missile in flight. Later on, while the RED heavy is flipping between TV channels, a clip from Game of Bones is briefly seen.

The BLU Scout's furry interest, which was established in Cable Calamity, becomes a plot point in the fourth episode as well. The gas station furries mistake the RED Scout for his BLU counterpart, and when he doesn't reciprocate their feelings, they angrily chase him and his friends out.

Chekhov's Armoury: The gas station scene in "Bush Beaters" has multiple innocuous setups for later in the episode.

While in the bathroom, RED Scout gets raped by Frank the Shark. Frank returns during the fishing competition looking for more action, and ends up injuring RED Sniper during the night.

RED Demo takes a picture of a nearby tourist trap (a large banana statue) while RED Sniper fills up the van. The picture is later used to lure out Bigfoot during the hunting competition.

RED Scout accidentally obtains some anal lube while being mobbed by the furries. The lube is used during the climax to allow RED Demo to alter his grenade launcher and fire a crucial shot.

While RED Sniper fuels up his van, RED Demoman is tinkering with a particular bomb. This bomb turns out to be the strongest the mercenary brought along, and it is the very same that required the anal lube to squeeze into a launcher.

A large medkit falls out of the van while the RED trio escapes from the furries. The loss of the medkit prevents RED Sniper from quickly recovering from his encounter with Frank, which stops him from participating in the camping competition.

Chekhov's Gun: Pool Fools has the BLU Engineer's teleporter setup from Cable Calamity, which RED notices at the beginning but does nothing about. The teleporter becomes integral to BLU's final pool raid, as it allows the team to bypass the sentries guarding the entrance and conveniently places them near the unarmed RED team. Pity that the plan was all for naught.

In Cable Calamity, besides the Soldier (watching a trailer for Game of Bones), Pyro (browsing gardening supplies) and Demoman (passed out drunk, though with an active laptop), the entire BLU team is getting off on things on the internet, porn or otherwise before their internet goes down.

In Bush Beaters, Scout is able to win the 24 hour tent solitude challenge by... occupying himself with images on his phone.

Death Is Cheap: Death is meaningless since the characters will just respawn. This means they can be hilariously mutilated without consequence.

Digging to China: An involuntary variation. The RED Soldier gets stomped on by the first episode's titular grill, and he emerges in Japan. He later returns via taxi.

Divergent Character Evolution: The RED and BLU teams have slowly received distinct differences between each other over time. For instance, the BLU Scout is a furry, while the RED Scout decidedly isn't.

Double Meaning: In Pool Fools, RED Spy's swimming trunks have a French Flag pattern, which contains both the colors blue and red. Given Spy's French Heritage, he can also disguise himself as the enemy, which makes him a Double Agent for both teams.

Double Take: Occasionally happens, like when the RED Sniper exchanges glances between the shark being held by the RED Scout, and Pyro (who had earlier disguised as a shark to prank Scout).

Downer Ending: Pool Fools,due to a a rocket falling out of the sky thanks to the BLU Heavy, ends with RED team's pool destroyed. Both teams are forced to share a pool at the expense of the grouchy Civilian, who orders them out. Meanwhile, the BLU Engineer, who had been coerced into building BLU team's own pool, doesn't even finish his project. Instead, he remains stuck in cement overnight due to a construction snafu.

Dream Sequence: Happens Once an Episode, where a random member of either of the two teams remembers the crazy events that happened at Badwater, then encountering two mysterious beings which instruct them to do the activity the episode is about.

Much like in the official TF2 comics, the BLU Soldier is certain that his teammates are all American.

Early Installment Weirdness: The Grill, unlike later episodes, has more primitive and ragdoll-ish animation more befitting that of 2012-era Garry's Mod videos, doesn't feature a traditionally drawn title card, and the title isn't a rhyme or an alliteration. The RED and BLU teams also primarily use audio from TF2 rather than recorded dialogue that only occasionally uses archived audio.

Earn Your Happy Ending: Bush Beaters. Despite all the crap they went through, the RED Sniper and his troupe win first place in the Bushman's Tournament. The compensation prize pool ensures that the RED Scout and Demoman got their own happy endings as well.

Easter Egg: In Cable Calamity, the BLU Soldier watches the trailer for Game of Bones on BluTube. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice the URL at the top of the Soldier's screen. If they type that video address (and replace "blutube" with "youtube" the end result is Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video.

Edible Ammunition: The Grill Robot fires explosive bottles of Barbecue sauce as one of it's attacks.

Embarassing TV Appearance: In Bush Beaters, while the RED Heavy was channel surfing, he comes across a smutty game show called "Truck Fuck", where he made an embarrassing appearance in. He was shown naked on TV with pixel blurs for his face and his genitals, while he was dared to have sexual intercourse with his friend's pickup truck for about $399,999.98. The truck RED Heavy engaged in congress with belonged to RED Medic.

RED Medic: Wait a minute! I recognize that truck!

As an added kicker, this was foreshadowed at the Gas Station, with the words "hevy[sic] was here" finger stenciled near where RED Sniper refuels his camper van.

Extreme Libido: The reason Frank the Shark raped the RED Scout in the Gas Station, at least according to a documentary.

Narrator: The Great White Tibetan Land Shark: Known for its uncontrollable sex drive and 36-inch penis. It gets quite horny during the summer, often choosing to seek a mate.

Freeze-Frame Bonus: The series features a lot of small details that can only really be seen if the video is paused at exactly the right time, but the most obvious example is during the Time Passes Montage at the beginning of Cable Calamity, where a lot of crazy stuff happens even without the RED and BLU teams present.

Fun with Subtitles: Occasionally used, like in The Grill when the RED Soldier returns from Japan and for some reason speaks in spanish subtitles, or when the BLU Medic and Heavy get ready to assault RED's house in Cable Calamity.

Furry Fandom: The BLU Scout is an unapologetic furry. This gets the RED Scout into trouble when he's mistaken for the BLU Scout by a group of anthropomorphic animals after the RED Scout does something to offend them offscreen.

There's a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the end credits that shows Red scribbled out BLU Scout's face on the furry magazine and signed it RED.

Game-Breaking Injury: Downplayed, but in Bush Beaters, the injury the RED Sniper suffered at the hands (or rather, teeth) of Frank the Shark forces him to let Scout handle the camping challenge.

Graceful Loser: The assassin of team SMNC applauds Team Red for winning in Bush Beaters, while her team looks on disapprovingly.

Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: A variant on the classic version of this trope, BLU Soldier rocket jumps and flies in a natural arc, but as soon as he realizes that he forgot his parachute, he immediately plummets like Wile E. Coyote.

Heat Wave: A severe heat wave kicks off the plot of Pool Fools as both teams try to find ways to stave off the heat.

Hidden Supplies: The BLU Demoman buried a large stash of explosives in his team's backyard. It gets accidentally set off by the BLU Engineer while he's digging a pool in Episode 3.

Inexplicably Identical Individuals: As usual, sans their clothing colors, the RED and BLU team members are physically similar. This comes into play in Bush Beaters when the fanatical gas station Funny Animals mistake the RED Scout for the BLU Scout, who is a devout furry that they idolize.

Laser-Guided Karma: The SMNC Sniper intercepts the RED Sniper's bullet and attempts to steal his game after all the effort the RED team put in to attract it. When the Bigfoot's enraged father appears, he hastily casts blame on the RED Sniper for killing the Bigfoot's son. Suffice to say, it doesn't work; Papa Bigfoot punts the SMNC team into the horizon, and the last time they appear in Bush Beaters, they've lost the competition and the SMNC Sniper is restricted in a full-body cast.

Mad Scientist: Both the RED Engineer and Medic count, especially in the first episode.

Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The world of Team Neighborhood is this in a nutshell. Aside from the RED and BLU teams, dozens if not hundreds of characters from various games or media show up in every episode, with varying levels of importance to the plot.

Megaton Punch: Megaton Kick, actually, but the principle is the same. The Grill robot in the first episode kicks the RED Heavy so hard it launches him out of the galaxy.

Mundane Made Awesome: The basic premise of the series. RED Engineer organizes a barbecue in Episode 1? His homemade grill transforms into a giant robot and starts fighting the team. Sniper, Scout and Demo go to a hunting contest in Episode 4? They have to fight monstrous beasts and dinosaurs.

The crowning example is the Camper challenge in Episode 4. 24 hours of intense tent watching to dramamtic music and camera sweeps follows.

Mundane Solution: While the rest of BLU come up with Zany Schemes to steal RED's cable (in Cable Calamity) or their pool (in Pool Fools), the BLU Demoman just attempts to legally purchase a cable package and an air conditioner to deal with the episode's problem. Unfortunately, the prices are so high not even a Briefcase Full of Money is enough to pay for them.

Non-Indicative Name: In the beginning of Bush Beaters, while Soldier fantasizes himself as Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo, he told his men to retreat because he apparently thought Waterloo was the name of a Water Park, after when one of his soldiers informed him that Waterloo was not one.

Planning with Props: Happens in Episode 2, when BLU are planning for ways to assault RED's house.

The RED Spy in The Grill tries throwing three sappers at the grill instead of placing them normally. Predictably, they harmlessly bounce off.

In the same fight, the RED Medic re-purposes the Demoman's Grenade launcher to fire small medkits. Unfortunately, having a bottle of pills launched at your face is going to hurt, even if it heals you afterwards.

In Cable Calamity, the BLU Soldier attempts to infiltrate the RED Ape-House by performing a rocket jump and drifting into the location with his B.A.S.E. Jumper. The trouble is, a wind current blows him way off course, and the poor Soldier lands in a fenced-off area containing a "misprogrammed artichoke dip."

After its Cold Open, Bush Beaters starts up a day after the previous episode's aftermath. It turns out that BLU Engie's pool construction mishaps - namely mixing water from a busted water main with instant-set cement - had wrecked BLU team's plumbing system. The result earns him a massive bill from the Mario brothers and the Administrator's ire.

RED Team see the Camper challenge broadcast live on TV. Since they don't have the audience's benefit of montages and camera work, the Mundane Made Awesome aspect is lost on them.

Respawn Point: The RED and BLU teams each have one present in their corresponding Ape-Houses. Bush Beaters reveals that other creatures have access to these points as well, most notably Frank the Shark and the Bigfoot family.

Rocket Jump: Both Soldiers and Demos occasionally use these in order to go somewhere. Interestingly, if they use their normal weapons, Reality Ensues (like when the BLU Soldier tried to rocket jump with his default launcher and blew up in Cable Calamity), but if they use the Rocket/Sticky Jumper, they're fine.

Serial Escalation: The series' first episode was 15 minutes long with almost all the lines either coming straight from the source game or being spliced together. By Episode 4, the run time is more than 50 minutes and several characters have entire conversations thanks to custom voice acting.

Shock and Awe: The rare Electronium knife that's the prize of the Bushman's Challenge is made of a rare and highly conductive metal. In one of the photos in the credits for that episode, the RED team gets briefly electrocuted by its power simply by raising it up high.

Shout-Out: Too many to count. Every episode features cameos from a lot of different games, some of them in important roles. The series itself is pretty much Team Fortress 2 fused with Rockos Modern Life down to using similar title cards.

The Stinger: After every episode's credits, there's a short scene of either flying drones or spy-bots observing the episode's heroes from a distance.

Suntan Stencil: In Pool Fools, RED Spy applies some sunscreen on RED Soldier's back that says "Vive La France". Unfortunately for BLU Spy, who was infiltrating the RED Team's pool party, this proved to be his undoing.

Super-Persistent Predator: Frank the Shark in Bush Beaters pursues the RED Sniper's troupe throughout, starting in a gas station then moving onto the distant campgrounds. He's notable since he's the first character who isn't a TF2 mercenary to be shown respawning. Thankfully, he only harasses the gang one more time after his initial death.

It's also obvious they're not fans of companies exploiting their monopolies to charge ludicrous amounts of money for their services, as the Air Conditioner ads and the TV broadcasting company's Jerkass attitudes and banners will show.

In Cable Calamity, when the BLU Soldier is spinning the blackboard with his plan to attack the RED house, he accidentally shows Medic's secret plan to invade France through Belgium which prompts Medic to run away.

In Bush Beaters, When the BLU team notices the RED Sniper, Scout and Demo leaving, Medic is seen reading Mein Kampfy Chair.

Threatening Shark: Frank the Shark, again. Also the unnamed shark that somehow managed to get into RED's pool in Pool Fools.

Tiny-Headed Behemoth: When the Toaster assumes its robot form, it develops a bulky body with large limbs and a wide torso. The Toaster itself forms the head, but it remains exactly the same size.

Unlucky Extra: The civilian who neighbors the RED and BLU teams. He frequently suffers some kind of punishment for his proximity to the mercs, such as his car being totaled during the Grill fight or the two teams freeloading in his pool.

Visual Pun: In Pool Fools a literal sentry nest (one big and several smaller sentries in a bird's nest) pops up when the BLU team triggers RED's defenses.

Weaksauce Weakness: As the RED Sniper demonstrates in Cable Calamity, all it takes to get the BLU Medic to run home with his tail between his legs is to show him an apple.

Wimp Fight: Shortly before BLU crashes their pool party,, the RED Demoman and Medic are partaking in one of these.

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